Rainbow Veins
by CaseyIsMyValentine
Summary: Sammy can't smile anymore, so Casey takes her on a roadtrip to see the "brighter" side of life.


**A/N: I wanted to inform to you my real name (which is not****Alex) Alex was a pen name I was testing out (I'm so sneaky) Hah. ;]****I'm really Stephanie or Steph or Stephy or whatever you wanna call me.****Alex was a pen name. I'll change it soon enough. Owl City loving****person says this story was bound to come sooner or later. It's sad..****So sorry. Oh, and you have to go pull up another tab or whatever and****listen to Rainbow Veins by Owl City from Youtube or iTunes or whatever while you****are reading this YOU HAVE TO. Or else the story sounds stupid.****  
****(Caseys pov)****  
**_**PS- the lyrics go reeeally well with the story so listen and read the lyrics!**__  
_  
Rainbow Veins

Song by Owl City

_High rise, veins of an avenue, bright eyes and subtle variations of__blue, everywhere is balanced there like the rainbow above you, street__lights glisten on the boulevard. and cold nights make staying alert so__hard.__  
_  
She looked out the window, sadness in her eyes. It was hard to say anything at all to her, because she was always so dull and quiet. Sammy, brighten up. What's happened has happened.

Name? Casey Acosta. Occupation? Actor. Age? Twenty-two. Relationship? Married. Location? On the road.

"Sammy... Look at those mountains." I said, pointing out the window. I nudged her and smiled, keeping one hand on the wheel, and taking her hand with the other.

What had happened two months ago was unexplainable- the fire- the tragedy- everything had happened so suddenly. It had been a Thursday night, and our room's door had been closed, when the fire alarm went off. We woke up and remembered- Haley. Our one-year-old daughter. We ran into her nursery as fast as possible, but it was too late, the fire had spread too fast. Sammy was never the same-- seeing her own daughter in such a terrible state was too much for her. It was a lot for me too, and seeing Sammy--my poor Sam--break down into tears and cry her eyes out--I knew I was just as devastated as her-- but I was the man, I was her husband, and had to help her somehow. I had to be the on there for her, so I mostly kept my feelings inside and focused on helping Sammy. That's why we were moving. That's why we were on the  
were going to drive across the country to leave behind all the bad memories.  
And the good ones. But we could make new good memories in Chicago, right?

_For heaven's sake, keep me awake so I won't be caught off guard ,__Clearly I am a passerby but I'll find a place to stay, Dear pacific__day, won't you take me away? Small town hearts of the New Year,__Brought down by gravity, crystal clear, City fog and brave dialogue__converge on the frontier._

So that's what happened. But I was hoping taking Sammy on a long road trip across the country would lift her spirits—maybe it would make her forget about what happened two months ago. I stopped the car at a rest stop and turned towards Sammy.

"Cheer up—we're in Arizona! Look at the scenery—isn't it amazing?" I smiled at her, and she smiled back at me.  
"Yeah, it is nice." She paused. "Where are we?"  
I looked at the GPS. "Flagstaff, Arizona." It had taken forever to drive from Santa Martina to here—especially since Santa Martina was near the coastline of California.  
"Flagstaff. What's our next destination?" she asked, plainly. This is how our conversations and actions went regularly now. We stopped, she asked where we go next, we get something to eat and take a rest and have small talk about the weather and the scenery, and then  
we head off. Then we find a hotel when we need to and stop for the night. Not much, because  
Sammy was still really upset and mourning for Haley. So was I.. but.. you know. I have to be there for her. I have to stay strong. I got out of the car and walked around to open the door for her. She smiled at me and took my hand when I offered it. We walked into the rest stop and she went her own way to the female section and I went my way. I was always worried sick about her. She was always so depressed and sullen. I felt like it she wanted to, she'd end her life herself any minute. After all, her only daughter just died.  
I also always thought about Haley. How happy she had made Sammy—Haley's beautiful smile.. I remember when I used to think about Haley's future and what she could become someday. Would she be from her mother's side and be energetic and adventurous? Or from my side, acting and sports and stuff? Well, Sammy plated sports too. But acting? If she had survived, would she have become a famous athlete, actress, author, something?

Everything was down the drain now.. No more Haley.

Ever.

Sometimes I felt like she'd be back—like she'd come back to life and just appear in our backseat or something. It was strange, but after all, isn't every parent desperate for their child again after  
something has happened to them? But it always sinks in.

No, Haley will never be back. We will never hear her voice again, see her smile. We have pictures and videos—plenty of them—but nothing can replace the real tiny baby daughter that belonged to Sammy and me.

Nothing.

_Make haste, I feel your heartbeat , With new taste for speed, out on__the street, Find a road to a humble abode where both of our routes__meet, The silver sound is all around and the colors fall like snow, The feeling of letting go, I guess we'll never know_

Sammy and I met each other back in the main lobby.  
"Ready to go? Oh, wait, we should get something to eat. Where do you want to go?"  
"You can pick. I'm not that hungry." She shrugged a little.  
I wrapped my arm around her. "Come on, Sam! Pick somewhere, or I'll starve right along with you."  
"Casey… You don't have to starve.. or anything. Just go to a place that's closest to us. Just drive until you see something, or pick yourself. Because I won't pick."

"Stop being so stubborn," I joked, "It's rubbing off on me. Because I say that you pick and I won't."  
I took her hand and walked her over to the car. "There's a place called Wildfire nearby. And--"  
"Then take us there. Whatever it is." She said.  
"Okay! Then we can go to… Tuba City."  
She said, "Okay." and got in the car. So much for trying to cheer her up.

_Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains , And I'll__blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins, Cause__your heart has a lack of color and we should've known, That we'd grow__up sooner or later cause we wasted all our free time alone._

*******************************************  
After dinner, we got into the car and continued watching the mountains as the sunset over them. We headed for Tuba City, Arizona.

We are now in Amarillo, Texas. Sammy has lightened up a bit or so, but she's still really upset. I just want her to cheer up and forget about the past now. It's a three months and a week. It sounds like this road trip is going really slow, but we are crossing five different states,  
even if we are only crossing across a little corner of Texas. Sammy and I stopped outside for a while one afternoon in Texas to watch the sunset while sitting on grass together.  
"Feeling better?"  
"Mm... I think I'm feeling a little better." she said. And then she turned to me. "Casey..."  
"Yeah?"  
"I love you." she smiled a little. I leaned towards her a little bit  
and kissed her lightly on the lips.  
"I'll love you more than you will ever know." I said, cocking my head sideways and smiling at her.  
She looked at me directly in the eyes for a moment, then put her head on my shoulder. I turned back to the sunset.

She looked at it too. "It's beautiful."  
"Yeah. You're also beautiful, Sammy." She sighed. "I don't feel it. I've been ruining our trip. I'm just so... Boring and sad all the time. I'm probably making you feel  
terrible."  
I reached over and took her hand. "No. Not at all."

_Your nerves gather with the altitude, Exhale the stress so you don't__come unglued, Somewhere there is a happy affair, a ghost of a good__mood.__  
_  
Sammy looked at me and sighed. "Thank you. Thanks for... Being there."  
I squeezed her hand lightly. "Anything for you."

We are now in St. Louis. It's practically right on the border of Illinois and Missouri but its in Illinois.  
Sammy has actually finally smiled once or twice but she's still very solemn. What will it take for me to make her laugh? Smile? Be happy?

We drove, and it began to rain.  
We drove even more in silence.

We were the crashing whitecaps, On the ocean, And what lovely seaside holiday, Away, A palm tree in Christmas lights, My emotion, Struck a sparkling tone like a xylophone, As we spent the day alone.

She looked out the window and sighed. Tears rolled down her face. She was thinking about Haley, I knew it.  
It has been three months and three weeks.  
I put my arm around her while driving.  
I showed her things as we drove, I pointed and said things to make her smile or laugh.  
They didn't exactly work to make her completely happy again, but they lightened her up a bit.  
And then the rain just stopped. I could tell she appreciated me trying to help to.  
I felt we should finally get some air, so we got out of the car and leaned against the car with her by my side. Our backs were getting wet but I didn't care; neither did she.  
We stood there for a while, watching the clouds clear up and the sun finally appear.  
"Look," I whispered.  
And as I pointed, it got bigger. A rainbow; every single color you can imagine and even more; bright across the sky.  
"That's you. We're finally here, Sam. We're in Illinois. Just a couple hours more driving. And we're there. You are the beautiful rainbow. You just need to see the bright side of life."

She turned to me and smiled. Then she turned back to the rainbow and said, "The bright side of life... That's you, Casey. Thank you." and she gave me a smile, hug, and kiss before I could even process the fact that she had just said I was the bright side to her life.  
Then she pulled away and said, "Let's go. There's so much we haven't seen, haven't done. What are we waiting for?" she smiled as she took a look at the rainbow.  
I did, too. I was so happy that I had made her happy again, I couldn't  
be happier. She was my life.

We would have other problems later, I knew it. Like, for example, whether or not to take the risk and have another child? But that way beyond us.

We were here to make a new life, and forget about the past.

During this road trip, I had only one goal in mind from the very start.  
I had finally done it.

_Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains, And I'll__blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins, Cause__your heart has a lack of color and we should've known, That we'd grow__up sooner or later cuz we wasted all our free time alone._

**A/N: Go listen to Rainbow Veins if you haven't already. =] **

**A/N2: I know, it's cheesy. And I wanted them to go to New York but it****was too far and I was too lazy so I shortened it a little to Chicago.****  
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_**OMG AND **__** COMMENT! OR I'LL CRY! IT TOOK ME SO MUCH TROUBLE TO MAKE IT FOR YOU GUYS! ARGH!**__**  
**__**COMMENT! NO! THERES A RECTANGULAR BUTTON RIGHT BELOW THE WORDS. HOW HARD IS IT THE CLICK THE BUTTON AND SAY *ONE* THING ABOUT THE STORY??!**__**  
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**PS- sorry for the stupid delay in posting the story. Personal (and****annoying) reasons. It shouldve been posted like 2 days ago. Ugh.****  
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